An Air New Zealand flight to Auckland was cancelled last night after jet engines of a private plane blew a ramp off the commercial flight, which had passengers on board waiting to disembark. A Gisborne woman said she watched in disbelief as the situation unfolded at about 5pm on the tarmac of Gisborne Airport. The return flight to Auckland was cancelled for safety reasons after the incident. An investigation is under way involving all parties. The Air NZ plane had just landed from Auckland and the ramp was down for the passengers to get off. But before they did, the jet engines of the private plane started up, “just metres away”. “Those engines should not have been started within such close proximity to another plane,” said the woman, whose mother was due to board the plane. “If anyone had been on that ramp they would have been seriously harmed. If any staff were on the tarmac, they would have been too.” “The ramp attached to the Air NZ plane was blown straight back towards the propeller and it looked like it damaged one of the hydraulic struts.” The Air NZ plane door was also damaged by the pull of the ramp, she said. “The staff and Air NZ pilot took it very seriously. The plane was inspected and a decision was made for the plane not to take off again.” The woman said as a result of the cancellation, her mother missed her international connection to London. Another flight landed at Gisborne Airport at 6pm but, for some reason a decision was made not to send that flight back in place of the damaged aircraft, she said. Re-booking her mother on another international flight came at a cost of nearly $500. “But my main issue was that there was a private jet outside the terminal — metres in front of the Air NZ plane — and seconds before the passengers were to get off, the jet engines started up for the private plane to taxi on to the runway.” An engineer happened to be at the airport seeing off a family member. He helped to inspect the plane, she said. “I spoke to one of the passengers who was on the plane when it happened and she said they all felt it shake with the force from the jet engines. “This is not something you want to witness. I couldn’t believe it.”
This blog started off by focussing on NZ's smaller 3rd level airlines, past and present. It has evolved to trying to present some record of NZ's domestic airline operations and some of the larger charter operators, interesting NZ international airliner movements and photos I have taken around the country. Comments, corrections or contributions are welcome, Steve - westland831@gmail.com
Lucky they had so many expert passengers onboard.
ReplyDeleteYou don't have to be any sort of expert (actual or internet based armchair) to describe what happened in this case.
DeleteZK_NFB
ReplyDeleteWhose jet?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking from experience, Air NZ does have a habit of not obeying standard apron rules. Boarding passengers directly into prop blast, forcing other aircraft to abandon an attempt at taxiing into a bay/gate. I've personally been waiting for something similar for this to happen for quite some time.
ReplyDeleteWhat a strange response. It had nothing to do with pax boarding. The ramp was simply blown over by the jet blast. At Gisborne it would be unusual for a jet to be parked on the 2 usual gates Nelson Park on. There is a third Q300 stand but it's not often used.
DeleteBeing familiar with the Sop for said operation, there are very specific rules for taxying when boarding in proximity to boarding pax which happens hundreds of times a week throughout the country. Crew simply don't ignore them.
Controlling a third party aeroplane is something that you cant do though.
It is not a strange response!
DeleteThey have a terrible habit of starting up while other people are boarding around them, heaven forbid you do it to them!
The “jet” could have actually of been doing nothing wrong. We weren’t there, just because they have a koru on the tail does not make them saints!
Ground crew have a lot to answer for, in these situations. The question needs to be asked why was the ramp taken out WHEN there was potentially the chance that the jet may start and blow it around. Why was the aircraft parked behind it??? You say there is other gates? You can’t tell me they didn’t notice a jet park on the apron....
Only 1 Air NZ Pilot. Other must havve worked for Jetstar.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you on about mate? It's an Air NZ plane flown by Air NZ pilots. Nothing to do with Jetstar
DeleteSorry. Was a joke. Was making light the report mentioned only one Air NZ pilot. While a serious incident. Difficult to know exactly what happened based on the accounts above until the investigation is complete. As we know passengers, media and those on the ground can often misinterpret the smallest things in aviation. Often like turbulence, passengers report falling thousands of feet when reality is less than 50ft.
DeleteVery poor airmanship. My personal opinion is there's an obvious and steady decline in airmanship all round. No disrespect, but the freshly minted CPL/Instructors training the next lot probably has something to do with it
ReplyDeleteI recently saw a young pilot do a full power engine run with the tail pointing in to and only meters from an open hangar full of aircraft. He was completely oblivious and very defensive when pointed out what stupid thing to do
There are some totally rubbish “pilots” out there at the moment.
DeleteVery much a case of the blind leading the blind.
Am I correct in saying the new ramps can't be used in high winds in Wellington for example??? If so surely a simple protocol should be in place that ramps are not to be used when jets are on adjacent gates and are about to depart or arriving - largely an issue for regional ports I would have thought.
ReplyDelete...and in this case, the jet was clearly ready to depart, the Q300 arrived behind it, the ramp was rolled out, bang... Is it necessarily the airmanship of the jet pilot??? I'm not looking to point fingers but maybe some common sense needs to prevail
DeleteThe jet in question, a Global Express, is a frequent visitor to New Zealand and operated by professional corporate pilots used to flying in challenging and unique environments. In this instance there was obviously an error in judgement which was most unfortunate. Perhaps the ground handling provider at Gisborne, who no doubt also look after the Link planes, should have been in a position to give guidance for manouvering. im sure it's been a learning experience for all parties involved.
ReplyDeleteSpot on
DeleteTHE GROUND HANDLERS IN GISBORNE DON'T CONTROL PRIVATE JETS. THEY ONLY DO AIR NEW ZEALAND FLIGHTS. SEPARATE COMPANY DEALS WITH JETS
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